What are you thinking while meditating?

[Buddha]

what is also good to think while meditating,i like to thing about mountains,or how im going to achieve something in this meaningless life.

Can someone gives me some tips what to think while meditating

[befriend]

your not supposed to be thinking about anything while meditating unless your practicing some kind of samatha meditation.

[hanzze_]

Thinking will be even very subtle always present, just do not follow it, and let it go again. Observe the process if you are aware that you are thinking.

[marc108]

http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html

[Buddha]

thanks for the replays

[Cittasanto]

Sometimes I inwardly recite a reflection on a specific theme, such as metta would be the Karaniya Metta Sutta, or may I abide in well being...
or even the Buddhas advise to rahula on the elements when I have a bout of anger...
There are also quotes I use from teachers.

these are useful to help reflect upon the teaching and internalise these tools for when they are needed.

but I quite like the image you use, would be useful if feeling trapped in a city or an environment to help set the troubles aside for a session.
although be cautious as to how you use that.

[Eccedustin]

In meditation, the first step is to clear the mind and to purify and let the fog settle like sediment settles in a clouded pond. It takes time and, if you "think" then the sediment clouds the pond again just like it would if you move around in the water. Keep still and clear all thoughts.

Once the fog is cleared and the "pond" is clear, I.E. the mind is clear, then you move onto "thinking" about a single one thing that you want to understand and/or develop. For instance in Metta meditation you develop loving-kindness and there are many steps of what to think about and how to go about doing that in general practice.

[Son]

what is also good to think while meditating,i like to thing about mountains,or how im going to achieve something in this meaningless life.

Can someone gives me some tips what to think while meditating

"breath"

or, "lovingness."

Or simply, "focus."

[dharmagoat]

What am I thinking while meditating?

All sorts of things, but the thoughts arise spontaneously, and naturally dissipate.

[manas]

Hi Buddha,

lately I have been experimenting with 'internal self-guided meditation'. Instead of trying to let go of all thinking straight away, i use it, especially early on in the sitting. Alot of the thinking consists of relevant lines from the suttas (for example, the anapanasati section of the satipatthana sutta), as well as quotes from respected teachers & guides. But if the mind begins to calm down, I then can let go of thinking more and more, moving towards 'silent witnessing'. But that is a longer-term project for me.

manas

[greggorious]

Think about being in the present moment in this "Meaningless life"

[reflection]

Preferably, not at all. Thinking sucks.

[Wesley1982]

Usually nothing at all

[daverupa]

So what is the benefit? Because, by way of the simile of the infant, it seems that lack of thinking as meditative attainment means infants are masterful meditators, and that putting them in a box would maintain their mastery. But this is absurd; so, of what benefit is this lack of thought, mentioned by so many?

Even the first jhana has thought...

[kirk5a]

So what is the benefit? Because, by way of the simile of the infant, it seems that lack of thinking as meditative attainment means infants are masterful meditators, and that putting them in a box would maintain their mastery. But this is absurd; so, of what benefit is this lack of thought, mentioned by so many?

Even the first jhana has thought...

The suttas do talk about the benefits of cutting off distractive thinking and stilling thought.

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=11901#p180640

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... ml#dhp-349

[bodom]

"Buddho"

Buddho
viewtopic.php?t=2552

[santa100]

There're different strategies for different stages of meditation. At the beginning, it's important to maintain applied thought(vitakka) and sustained thought(vicara) on the meditation object(ie. the in-out breath, buddho, mantra, etc.) because without them, the five hindrances of lust, aversion, sloth, restlessness, and doubt would overwhelm the meditator. With subsequent and more refine stages of concentration, one can let go of vitakka and vicara..

[Viscid]

But this is absurd; so, of what benefit is this lack of thought, mentioned by so many?

Even the first jhana has thought...

Discursive thinking in meditation has a rather undeserved poor reputation. Such thought is an invariable element of meditation, regardless of method, and I don't think it's something which should be shunned. What I usually think about when trying to concentrate on my object are things immediately relevant to my life: things I've said, things that are going to happen, regrets, hopes, curiosities.. these can then be analyzed from a much more neutral emotional standpoint while meditating. The results of this rumination are useful, creative conclusions, solutions or ideas which I may not have had if I did not engage in a meditative practice.

[m0rl0ck]

As little as i can get by with, and lets not forget that aversion to thinking is just more thinking.

[bodom]

This essay may be helpful in understanding the use of thinking in meditation:

Wise Reflection

The purpose of this essay is to explain the value of wise reflection, yoniso manasikara, and to encourage readers to use their own thought processes for the growth of wisdom in their formal meditation practice. The majority of experienced Buddhist meditators whom I have met during thirty years of meditation and eighteen years of teaching were unfamiliar with formal reflective meditation. By way of this essay I hope to correct this lack of understanding.

http://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh463-p.html